


Blood Magic and All

by ArwingYoshi



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Blood Magic, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 16:14:24
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6159343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArwingYoshi/pseuds/ArwingYoshi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some time after the events of Witch Hunt, Daniel Amell catches up with an old friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blood Magic and All

**Author's Note:**

> No warnings for this chapter apply.

According to Daniel’s sources, the man he was looking for was here.

A few days ago, Daniel Amell, the Hero of Ferelden, had approached one of the Dark Wolf’s people in Amaranthine and paid him a good sum to find any clues as to the whereabouts of an old friend. Dark Wolf had come back with results in about a day, saying that a man fitting the description was seen in a small village south of Amaranthine City. Daniel counted himself lucky the man wasn’t all the way in Antiva or something.

Daniel keep his hood up and his cloak tight around himself, not wanting to draw attention to his distinctive blue Warden uniform. The mage wondered if he should have bought more inconspicuous clothes, but the Warden robes felt so _fitting_ by now. Daniel had sold his mage robes, staff and jewelry at Ostagar, after receiving his Warden gear. Objectively speaking, the uniform was more practical and the staff was better suited to combat, though Daniel wasn’t afraid to admit that it was also a symbolic gesture of shedding his old identity and throwing off the last shackles of the Circle. Wearing the uniform of the Wardens was Daniel’s way of saying _‘I’m not a Circle slave, I’m a Grey Warden’._

Thankfully it looked like this village had no local Templars, which was probably why the man he was looking for was here. It was a simple farming town, with a few stone buildings that served as businesses. It rather reminded Daniel of Lothering. The Warden spotted a woman wearing leather armor and an ugly hat next to a Collective board. Perfect.

He approached the Collective representative and quietly asked, “Have you seen another mage go through here?” He gave the description.

“I did see someone fitting that description,” The Collective mage said. “But I could use a little reminder.” She nodded towards the board. Daniel scanned it quickly, before handing over a bag of elfroot. “Last I saw he went in there.” She nodded towards the inn.

Daniel thanked her and went into the large stone building. The ground floor tavern was packed with laughing drunkards and mercenaries leering at the waitstaff, and filled with the sound of laughing and the bard singing. The Warden’s eyes scanned the crowd.

There he was. Sitting in the shadows, nursing a pint. He’d traded the mage robes for something more sensible, at least. He wore a dark purple tunic under a dark blue cloak, black pants and leather boots, with a belt around his waist with various satchels. The only hint that he was a mage was the staff strapped to his back.

Daniel weaved through the crowd, keeping his eyes fixed on the man, until he reached his table. “Hello, old friend,”

The other man looked up and his eyebrows shot up. “Danny?”

“Do you have a room where we can talk?”

The other man just nodded, still stunned by the appearance of the Warden. He led Daniel upstairs, two floors up and into a room at the far end of the hall.

Once both men were inside, and the door was locked, the man turned to Daniel. “I can’t believe it’s you, Danny.”

“Jowan,” Daniel greeted softly. “It’s been a while, my friend.”

“Shouldn’t you be off running the Wardens? I hear they promoted you for saving the world,”

“It’s complicated,” The Warden replied.

“What are you doing all the way out here alone?”

“I came looking for you. You don’t know how much I’ve missed you,”

“You’ll forgive me if I find that hard to believe,” Jowan replied. “The Wardens must need you more than I do.”

“I’m… taking a break from them,”

The blood mage frowned. “Why?”

“I was called away by the First Warden for some business in Antiva. When I went back, things were… different,” Daniel sighed.

“Go on,” Jowan gently prodded.

“My replacement fucked things up,” Daniel elaborated. “Half of them were gone when I returned, and the few that were left were miserable.” Daniel explained what he had returned to. Nathaniel had stuck around, since the Keep was his ancestral home, but it wasn’t as inviting as it was before. The acting Commander had seen to that, apparently feeling the need to remind him that his home now belonged to the Wardens. Oghren had been forced into sobriety, and withdrawal had been hard on him. Sigrun had been assigned to another Grey Warden unit, having requested a transfer. Velanna had left to find her sister and possibly seek out more stray elves. As for Anders and Justice...

“You remember that classmate we had, Anders?” Daniel asked. 

“Weren’t you sleeping with him?”

“We only had sex once, thank you very much,” Daniel deadpanned. He cleared his throat, “Well, he ran away again, and ended up at Vigil’s Keep. I saved him from the Templars by making him a Warden. He was damn good at it too. Then while I was gone, they made him give up his cat and let in a Templar who had been sent to spy on him.” Luckily Nathaniel’s sister had offered to take the cat, according to her brother. He knew that the cat was in good hands, since he trusted Delilah to take care of him, but it still steamed him that the Wardens had done their best to undo every good thing Daniel had done for his team. The men and women he’d conscripted really had felt like a second family to him, after his original team had gone their separate ways. They’d been his Wardens, and he’d been unable to help them when they needed him.

“We also had a spirit of Justice inhabiting a dead Warden with us, long story, but his body was falling apart. The others told me Anders let Justice possess him, and that’s when the Templars and some of the Wardens betrayed him. He killed them all, and I don’t know where either of them are now.”

Jowan approached the other mage and put a hand on his back. “It wasn’t your fault, Danny,”

“I’m not mad at Anders,” Daniel added, more to himself than Jowan. “I’m mad at the Templars for sending that man. I’m mad the Wardens allowed it. And I’m mad that I wasn’t there to protect him. Or Justice.” Now nowhere was safe for either of them.

“Are you planning to go back?”

“Not for a while, I think,” Daniel replied. “The Keep isn’t the same anymore, with half of the team gone. I’m surprised the few that are left were even able to look at me.” He looked Jowan in the eye. “You were one of the few people I trusted back at the Circle, and the one person I could be myself around. You were the one thing that made the Circle bearable.”

“Now you’re just being nice,” Jowan replied. “You were the smart one, the talented one, the one all the Enchanters and Templars loved. I was the screw up who was so desperate that I turned to blood magic and ruined my life.”

“The only people who ruined your life were Irving and the Templars,” Daniel said. “You were only looking for a way to survive in that prison.”

Jowan still looked ashamed. “I just don’t know… I mean, Irving thought about making you his apprentice and training you for First Enchanter.”

“I would have said no,” Daniel promised. “I wasn’t sad to leave. I was only sad that I couldn’t escape with you.”

“I remember one of the Templars even fancied you. I once overheard some of the senior enchanters talking about how they were hoping you would notice him already, since he was such a nice Templar,” Jowan said. “What was his name? Black hair, scar across his nose?”

“Orion?” Daniel said, scowling. “I remember he was at my Harrowing and always seemed to be around wherever I was. Did he really have a thing for me?”

“That was the rumor,” Jowan said.

“Well, I would have spit in his face before falling for him,” Daniel said. “Nice or not, he was still a Templar. Honestly, even so-called ‘good’ Templars don’t have much going for them.”

“On that we can agree,”

Daniel suddenly felt a small pang in his stomach and sat down on the lumpy bed, reaching into his pack. Jowan relaxed when he merely pulled out a small helping of druffalo jerky. The Warden looked up at his friend. “Would you like some?”

Jowan nodded and sat down next to the other mage, accepting a piece of jerky. They chewed on the dried meat without sharing words. It was Daniel who chose to break the silence.

“I’ve always wondered, Jowan. Why did you decide to take up blood magic?”

Jowan swallowed his jerky, not meeting his friend’s eyes. “I… I just wanted to be stronger. You know how things were back at the Circle. If you weren’t good enough, you got the brand. I was never good at magic, not like you were. I thought it would make me as strong as you. I was jealous of you.”

“Well, look at it this way. Blood magic did make you a better mage. You found a school of magic that works for you,”

“Then why do I feel like a monster?”

“That’s the Circle and Templars talking, Jowan,” Daniel put his hand on his friend’s shoulder. “I’ve seen a lot of stuff in my time as a Warden, and it’s taught me a lot. I’ve seen people do monstrous things in the name of what they believe in. But you turning to blood magic wasn’t one of those things. I can tell you that you’re no monster.”

Jowan kept his head hung and said nothing.

“Want to hear a little secret? I might know a few forbidden magicks myself,” That got the blood mage’s attention, and he looked at his friend curiously. Smirking, Daniel vanished in a puff of purple smoke, and perched in his place on the bed was large eagle.

Jowan blinked, as if trying to clear something from his eyes, his mouth hanging open. After a moment, he asked, “How did you do that?” He cautiously reached out to touch the bird. Daniel pressed his feathery head against Jowan’s palm, and the blood mage took the hint and began to pet him. The eagle let out a happy peep.

With another puff of smoke, Daniel returned to human form with a smug look on his face.

“Who taught you _that_?”

“A Witch of the Wilds,” Jowan was taken aback by the response. “Yes, the rumors about them are true. She helped me save the world, in fact.” Part of him wished he’d gone after Jowan first, but Morrigan was much more slippery and he was afraid he’d lose track of her forever before he could get some answers from her.

“I can’t imagine the Circle would be too happy if they knew you could shapeshift,” Jowan mused, a smile playing across his lips.

“Well, I like doing my part to keep magics that the Chantry would otherwise erase alive. So we’re both pissing off the Chantry, in our own ways. As for you and blood magic, there’s nothing inherently evil about blood magic. It’s just magic, no more dangerous than any other form of magic, or even a common sword or bow.”

“You really do believe that, don’t you?” Jowan looked at the Warden with warm eyes. Daniel just nodded. “So what are you going to do with me now that you’ve found me?”

“We go where the land takes us. You’d better get used to me, because I’m never leaving you again,”

“I don’t know what to say,”

“How about ‘yes’?”


End file.
